Machinations
by Melomancer
Summary: Mustadio grows increasingly frustrated at his lack of success getting Cloud home when an old friend drops by to cheer him up again.


"So, you think you'll be getting that working sometime soon?"

Mustadio wiped the sweat that was pouring from his brow with his arm and put his hammer back in the toolbox to turn to the new visitor. The Holy Knight, Agrias, was standing by the doorway with her arms crossed, a casual glance crossing her face. He could tell that she was skeptical about his process on the machine, and how could he blame her? No matter how much he poked or prodded the machine, he had no idea whatsoever how it worked; the technology was decades – no, centuries beyond their time, and, as much as he loathed to admit it, it was proving to be a worthless endeavor figuring it out.

Still, his pride was at stake, and if she thought she was going to get him to admit defeat, she had another thing coming.

"Not quite yet," he lied to her, suppressing the scowl that was trying to force its way onto his face. As frustrating as it was he had to keep his cool and try to avoid giving it away. "There are a few systems that I have to work out a bit first in order to get it running. It should only take a few days more."

Despite Mustadio's best efforts, she looked unconvinced. Hell, the skepticism was almost visible on her face. "Are you sure? You've been at work on it for a while now."

"Like I said, it should only take a few days more. We'll have Mr. Foreigner upstairs back on his home planet in no time."

Mr. Foreigner being the spiky-haired man he and their group's leader, Ramza, had met a few days back. It was unusual how he had appeared, now that he thought on it - one day, his father had finished building the globe he was working on, and all of a sudden, this spiky-haired guy appears out of nowhere and runs off. They didn't see the man until a while later, when he was having a seizure while beating the life out of a group of bandits.

He had to admit, the man had his uses - he's pretty good with a sword, almost as good as the fearless leader, and his help taking down the berserk saint Ajora (long story) was invaluable. Still, he didn't really belong in this world, and as such Mustadio was charged with finding him a way home via the globe that brought him here. This, as you can see from his progress so far, isn't working out too well right now.

Mustadio sighed, leaning back from his squad on the floor to relax a little. "It has been a while hasn't it? What time is it anyway?"

"It's around dusk right now," Agrias said, tilting her head quizzically. Her hair moved in tandem with the tilt, giving it almost a fluid look to the movement. "That reminds me, Alma says she'll be done with making dinner in half-an-hour and she wanted me to tell you to get yourself cleaned up. You remember what happened last time, don't you?"

"Yes, yes, I know." Last time he had forgotten to clean the grease off of his clothing, making a mess everywhere. Alma's screams are still echoing in his head.

Agrias took that as a sign of confirmation and left the room, her golden hair billowing behind her. She stopped just short of the door. "By the way..."

"Yes?"

"If you're having trouble getting it to work, you should really just take a break once in the while. The machine's not going anywhere, after all."

"How do you know I'm having trouble?" Mustadio folded his arms. He might as well hold out hope that she hasn't caught on just yet - his engineering pride was at stake, after all.

Not that it mattered much, as, judging by her smug smirk she had already figured it out. "Well, for one thing, you've been working on this thing for a few weeks now, and every time I've come down to check up on you you've said the same thing: 'it'll only take a few days more.' You didn't think no one would notice, did you?"

Mustadio slumped back a bit, giving Agrias a look of dejection, mixed with a few parts of awe. It looks like he's been found out. "...How long did you know?"

"A few days now," she answered. She moved to brush the hair our of her eyes, her gaze moving to the celestial globe in the meanwhile. "I mean, you've been getting more and more irritable every day - even Ramza's caught on by now, and you know how naive he can be at times."

At that, Mustadio picked himself off of the ground and started brushing himself off. "Well, it looks like you've got me. As much as I don't like to admit it" - at this, he casted a disgusted glance at the machine beside him - "I have no idea how this thing works. Some engineer I am, huh?"

"It can't be that bad," the holy knight said, walking over to the globe proper and taking a look at it. "How much have you figured out so far?"

Mustadio shrugged at this. "I've managed to figure out a few things. For one thing, I think I know where the controls are, so activating the globe isn't a big deal. However, the coordinates aren't connected there so I've been trying to figure out just where on ths-"

"Okay, okay, I think I get the point." Agrias interjected, waving her hands dramatically to signify her lack of understanding. "Anyway, you've been making progress at least. Maybe you just need to take a break."

"Hmm... maybe." She had a point. He had been working on it pretty much non-stop for the past few weeks, and odds are he would've starved to death if the others hadn't been feeding him. Maybe he just needed to take a small break and relax a bit before coming back to it - it's not like he was making much headway the past while.

He turned to Agrias, giving her an uneasy, but genuine, smile. "I guess you're right, I've been working on this thing for a little too long, it seems. So... thanks."

She smiled back. "Not a problem. I think we've been friends long enough that I think I've figured you out a bit more now. You really need to lose some of that pride of yours."

"And what is that supposed to mean? I think this engineer's done enough good work to merit a little pride, don't you think?"

They both laughed at the boastful comment, the uneasy air of the workroom having been dispelled. Mustadio had to admit, it felt good to get that off his chest, and now that he had relaxed a bit, he found himself a little... hungry.

"By the way, what's Alma making for dinner?"

"She's making some of her chocobo stew tonight." Agrias replied. Her expression changed to a more quizzical one at that as she went into deep thought before snapping her fingers suddenly. "Speaking of which, we better hurry before the others eat it all again. Come on, let's go!"

"Ah! Wait, save some for me too!"

. . . . . .

Time written: 1h 20min

Ah, friendship. Is there ever a more beautiful thing?

Unlike the last... (checks) seven or so fics, this one was mostly written on a whim. And hey! It turned out pretty well, I think. It feels good to be back in the writing groove admittedly enough. Looks like all the writing I've been doing has been paying off.

Anyway, enough about me. Be sure to leave a review if you enjoyed it! (If not... well, review anyway. How else do you expect me to improve? :P)


End file.
